Imperial Capital Blues
by AlphaPheonix
Summary: After a spacial anomaly envelops their transport to Earth, the Reds and Blues find themselves on a strange world with murderous beasts, killer girls, and a corrupt empire! And to top things off, somehow Epsilon is in the body of a dog! Find out how the Reds and Blues will effect things as they encounter the team of elite assassins: Night Raid. Rated M for reasons.
1. Different World, Same Bullshit

**(Author's Notes)**

**Alright, consider this an experiment. I saw this suggestion on Kolomte'49's channel and decided to put this out there to see what people think of it. Not sure if it will be continued for now. Just wanted to get the foundation out there. Hope it's up to normal standards, either for my other works or for other RvB stories on this website. Don't forget to read and review, Y'all!**

* * *

My name is Leonard Church. Some call me Epsilon. I'm an A.I.. Well, an A.I. fragment. I was created by the man who was the basis for the A.I. I was fragmented from, Leonard Church, director of a military organization by the name of Project Freelancer. It's primary goal was to create the perfect super soldier. Part of the project was to partner the soldier with an A.I., that's how I was made. I bet you're wondering why I referred to myself as a fragment. See, I'm not a full A.I.. Project Freelancer was given only a single A.I.. As a result, the Director decided to do something no one else ever thought to do. He caused the A.I., Alpha, extreme duress, causing him to fracture and splinter off into multiple fragments, each representing a different aspect of his personality. I am his memory, and I'm the last of the fragments.

Recently, I found myself with his former team and friends, the Reds and Blues. On our way back to Earth after taking down Project Freelancer and the Director, a series of seriously fucked up situations, which may or may not have been caused by my friends, caused us to crash land on a planet outside of the jurisdiction of the UNSC! And if that weren't bad enough, it was in the middle of a goddamn civil war! Jesus Christ! If I didn't know why Alpha was constantly pissed off before, I did now! The Reds and Blues are filled with the stupidest, most annoying bunch of fuck ups you're ever gonna meet! But that's probably for the best. We won in every situation because we were a bunch of fuck ups. We beat trained soldiers, soldiers paired with my brother fragments equipped with them! And recently, we found ourselves fighting against the men and women who were forcing the civil war. These men and women were headed by the former Chairman for Project Freelancer.

They'd brought everything they could against us, weapons combined from Project Freelancer and alien tech, criminals they broke out to combat us and the people of the planet we found ourselves on, Chorus, and two very strong mercenaries who gave my friends the fights of their lives. After beating the mercenary known as Felix, we found ourselves on the flagship, surrounded and outgunned. It didn't seem like we were getting off that ship alive. Well, not all of us. We had one chance, an experimental armor that was designed after one of the Freelancers we'd fought and won against, Agent Maine, who we called the Meta. He was tricked by my brother, Sigma, into turning against Project Freelancer and stealing our brothers to force a Meta-Stability event, piecing the A.I. known as Alpha together once more. In doing so, he brought them to one place where the Reds and Blues along with a Freelancer Agent, Washington, detonated an EMP, wiping out the other fragments and leaving me alone.

My best friend, Lavernius Tucker, put on the suit, but he couldn't run the equipment by himself. He needed an A.I.. So, I was prepared to do everything I could to save my friends, prepared a speech and everything. I was on the last of my time. I was only a fragment. I was never meant to last as long as an actual A.I., this was always going to be a one way trip for me. At least that's what I thought. As I was getting ready to fragment myself even further to power the suit for the small amount of time we'd need to fight the Chairman's forces, I got a little help. F.I.L.Y.S., a specialized automated assistant that acted as the personal assistant to both the Director and, with some reprogramming, the Chairman as well. She managed to give me a massive power boost, allowing me to run the suit without having to fragment.

We beat the escaped criminals and were celebrated as heroes. Only Carolina, a former Freelancer Agent, daughter of the Director and my friend and surrogate sister, knew what it would've taken to power that suit without F.I.L.Y.S.. I should count myself lucky she wasn't telling the others about it. We were on our way to Earth, again, when things didn't go quite as planned. Again.

* * *

"Tucker, I don't care if you think this will get you a lot of girls kicking down your door. By the time we get to Earth, literally no one will ever remember it."

"Fuck you, I'm a fucking war hero with a badass suit or armor and a sword! I'm a modern day knight in aqua armor! Chicks dig that shit!"

"As a 'chick'," said Carolina. "I can already tell you the knight thing, is too cliché."

"Fuck you guys, I know what I'm talking about." He walked away as someone else ran over.

"Hey Blue," shouted the leader of the Red Team, Sarge. "You seen Lopez?! I need some help outfitting a new weapon onto the warthogs!"

"Uh, yeah," I said. "I think he was making his way for the air lock."

"What in Sam Hill is doing there?!" Sarge walked off and I shook my holographic head.

"You think he knows how much Lopez hates our guts?"

"I think he doesn't care. Lopez still does what he's ordered to," said Carolina.

"Which I don't get." I made my mini-hologram grow to full height as I turned to her. "He hates us and yet he still helps us."

"To be fair, you all hate each other as well."

"Yeah but not as much as Lopez. I mean, no one fixes his vocal processor, keeping him in Spanish mode all the time."

"None of us are qualified to fix his model."

"And yet Sarge was authorized to construct him completely! Seriously, what was the Director thinking?!"

"We know what he was thinking." I sighed.

"Yeah… I know."

"_Agent Carolina, Agent Washington and Epsilon A.I., report to the bridge_."

"Dammit, what now."

"Who knows," asked Carolina.

"Let's see what they want." I shrank my image and hovered next to her and we met up with Wash before heading to the bridge of our transport ship.

"What's going on," asked Wash as he walked beside Carolina.

"No idea. We just got the call like you," said Carolina.

"God I hope it's nothing serious," I said.

"You know you just jinxed yourself, right," asked Wash.

"Now I do." We got to the bridge and saw a strange light in front of the ship. The ship itself was motionless. "Jesus, what is that?"

"No idea," said the pilot. "Just know our readings picked it up and we came to a full stop before hitting it."

"Where did it come from," asked Carolina.

"Your guess is as good as mine. I was hoping you're A.I. friend there would be willing to help."

"Yeah cause giant mysterious lights in space is something I was programmed for," I said.

"Epsilon," cautioned Carolina.

"Yeah, yeah. Play nice. I'll hop into the scanners to see what I can find." But before I could do anything, the light expanded. "Holy shit!"

* * *

Next thing I know, I can feel something warm against my face. _'Wait a minute. I'm an A.I. with a holographic body, how the hell can I feel something warm? For that matter, how the hell can I feel anything at all?"_ I opened my eyes, another big fucking surprise! And saw myself looking up at a cute girl with auburn hair, my face nuzzled between her breasts as she slept. _'Did I end up in one of Tucker's wet dreams? That's a scary thought.'_ I tried pushing myself away from her only to find I didn't have human arms. My arms were short, stubby and covered in white fur. "What the fuck…?" The girl moaned slightly as she woke up. She turned to me and smiled warmly.

"Good morning, Koro!" _'Koro?'_ "Ready to start the day?" I stared at her blankly as she sat up in what I assume is her bed and stretched. She got up and removed her clothes. I turned away, embarrassed. She stepped into what looked like a bathroom and I heard running water. I jumped down from the bed and found I was shorter than it, but larger than my holographic form. I went to a full length mirror and didn't like what I saw. I appeared to be a small white dog. I responded as any sane sentient being would.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"Who's there," called the girl from the bathroom. She ran back into the room, dripping wet and pulled out a sword from beside her bed. I didn't even pay attention to her. I was too preoccupied that I was a fucking dog!

"WHY THE FUCK AM I A DOG?!"

"K-Koro?" I turned to her. She dropped her sword slightly. "Y-you can talk?"

"Never mind that! I'm a fucking dog! Why?!"

"Y-you've always been a dog, Koro."

"Don't call me Koro. Call me Church."

"Church?"

"Yeah." I looked at my body and groaned. "Look at my arms! They're stubby! This is so many kinds of wrong!" I lost my balance and fell over with a grunt. "And my legs! Could this day get any worse?!"

"I-I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you're talking!"

"I'm trying to wrap around my head that this morning I was on my ship with my friends, then there was this bright light. I was going to investigate and now, I'm a fucking dog!"

"Wait, what do you mean your ship?"

"I mean we were heading home on our ship after a very long fight to free a planet. We were heading back to Earth. What planet are we on, anyway?"

"Uh…"

"Come on, kid. I don't got all day. I gotta find my team, get myself back to normal, and get home. I haven't been to Earth before. Kinda want to see it before I blip out of existence." The girl stared at me for a second before my words clicked in her head and she looked down at herself. She screamed and kicked me out into the hall! "OW!"

"Don't look!" She slammed the door behind me and I groaned.

"There's no way the others are having as bad a time as I am right now."

* * *

**(Tucker's POV)**

"Dammit, Caboose," I shouted. "What did you do now?"

"I don't know," shouted the retard. "I was just standing in a corner talking with my new friend and I think I broke him!" I looked down at the water we were standing in.

"Oh come on, I just painted this armor!"

"Uh… Tucker," Caboose whispered to me.

"What Caboose? And why are you whispering?"

"Because there's a very mean looking lady behind you."

"There's a chick?! Where?!" I turned around and was met with a smoking hot blonde girl and a cute pink haired girl. "Ladies, how are you?"

"Perverts," shouted the pink haired girl. She reached behind her and pulled out a weird looking gun, aiming it at us.

"Uh… Caboose?"

"Yes," he asked.

"I think we should…" The pink haired girl fired her rifle at us. "Run!" A fucking laser beam just barely missed us as we ran away from the two girls and into a nearby building. I panted as we found ourselves in a large room with some sparse furniture and took my rifle off my back. "Dammit! Why does every chick I meet want to kill me!"

"Oh, that's ok. They want to kill me too!"

"Not now, Caboose. Let's just get out of here and find out where the hell we are."

"Who the hell are you two," asked someone beside us. I turned to them and saw a guy with green hair.

"Never mind who we are, what's with that hair?"

"Wait, how the hell did you get passed my defenses?!"

"Fuck if I know! I was just minding my own business, trying to get this chick's number and then, boom! I'm in a hot spring with this idiot and two very hot and very angry babes!"

"Wait, you got to see Leone and Mine naked?!"

"Hell yeah! Wait, you know this two?"

"There he is," shouted the pink girl from earlier, this time covered in a towel.

"Ah shit! Caboose, run!" We turned around and ran into Carolina and Washington.

"What did you two idiots do now," asked Carolina.

"Nothing, I swear!"

"Liar," shouted Pink. "You perverts appeared in our hot springs!" Washington sighed.

"Really, Tucker," he asked.

"Hey, don't look at me like that," I replied. "I can't help where I mysteriously end up."

"Remind me to reprimand them later," said Carolina. She turned to the two chicks. "Are you two ok?"

"We're fine," said the blonde bombshell. "Who are you guys?"

"We're fucking heroes, baby," I exclaimed. "Ow!" Carolina hit me in the back of the head with her rifle.

"Ignore him," she said. "I'm Agent Carolina. This is Agent Washington, Lavernius Tucker, and Michael Caboose."

"Hi," said Caboose. That's when the screaming happened.

* * *

**(Griff's POV)**

Of all the things that could have happened to us. This had to be the worst. There I was minding my own business and enjoying my meal when all of a sudden, I go from being in the ship's mess hall to the middle of a fucking forest! "What the hell?!" I looked around and put my helmet back on before pulling out my sidearm. "Where'd my food go?!"

"Never mind about your food, idiot," said Simmons behind me. "Where the hell's the ship! And for that matter, where are we?!"

"Hey, I've only gone through second breakfast! How am I supposed to make it to third lunch?!"

"Could you stop worrying about food for one second and help me look around?! Aren't you a little bit worried that we may be on an alien planet with whatever hostile life is nearby?!"

"No! I want my triple meat omelet with extra cheese, dammit!"

"Sonofabitch!" Simmons dived out of the way as a giant fucking cat leapt out at him, slashing at his head. "What the fuck is that thing?!"

"It looks like a puma!"

"Run!" I took off after Simmons and after a few feet, he stopped. "Wait, we have guns! Shoot!"

"Oh, right!" I turned around and fired my sidearm before I heard a faulty click. I looked at my pistol and saw it was jammed. "Shit!"

"Fucking idiot, that's why you should take better care of your weapons!" Simmons pulled the trigger on his battle rifle, only for it to click and nothing happen. "Uh oh." He checked the magazine. "I forgot I got rid of the bullets in my gun!"

"Why would you do that?!"

"We were on a ship! Accidental weapons malfunction could've pierced the hull and killed us!"

"And I'm the idiot!" The puma thing landed between us and swatted me into a tree. "Sonofabitch!"

"Griff!" The puma rounded on him. "Nice kitty…. Griff, toss it your emergency chicken leg," he whispered to me.

"No way! That's for emergencies only!"

"Almost being mauled to death by a puma is an emergency!"

"Fine! But you owe me another leg!" I reached into one of my ammo pockets and fished out a perfectly good fried chicken leg.

"Griff, he's sniffing at me…"

"Hey, Mufasa! Catch!"

"Wrong animal!"

"Just shut up and get ready to run!" I tossed the chicken leg at the puma. It turned in place to snatch the leg out of the air, giving Simmons room to run. Before the puma could snatch it however, there was a slash. A girl with long black hair and red eyes grabbed the chicken leg as the puma's head came off and its blood sprayed all over her. She stuck the chicken leg in her mouth and turned to us.

"That was a waste of meat," she said. Needless to say, me and Simmons were beyond afraid now. We took off screaming and ran into a wooden door, falling into the building we found ourselves at.

"It's Griff and Simmons," I heard Tucker exclaim.

"Crazy girl," panted Simmons. "Has a sword. Killed a puma. Covered in blood."

"Sounds like they met Akame," said the blonde beside Tucker. I stood up and leaned on my knees as light footsteps were heard behind me.

"Sorry," said the girl from before. "I let them find the hideout.

"Ah," shouted Simmons. "It's her!" We did the bravest thing we could think of. We hid behind Carolina and Washington, let them deal with the deadly little girl.

"Who are you guys," asked a green haired guy behind me.

"What's up with that hair," I asked.

"That's what I asked," said Tucker.

"There's nothing wrong with my hair," exclaimed the green haired dude.

"No dude ever dyes his hair green unless he's looking for attention."

"It's natural!"

"Bullshit," I exclaimed. "Green hair's not possible normally." I took a step towards him, only to be met with the girl's sword at my neck. "Meep." I heard a gun click behind me.

"Drop it," said Wash, more than likely holding his battle rifle to her head. Another click told me Carolina was aiming at the other people, more than likely Puma-Killer's friends.

"Everyone, step outside," said Carolina. "Tucker, sweep the building for anyone else and take them outside."

"Why me?"

"Do you want to be the one to escort the one who wants you dead right now?"

"Good point. Come on, Caboose!"

"Oh boy," exclaimed Caboose. "We're going on an adventure!"

"Don't even think about moving that sword across his neck, miss. Just step away from the idiot and calmly…" She moved the sword from my neck and swung it at Wash. The sound of metal meeting metal meant Wash blocked it. Carolina started opening fire as the girl's friends moved to us. I received a kick to the back and was sent to the ground before scrambling away.

* * *

**(Carolina's POV)**

As soon as the girl with red eyes swung at Wash, I turned and opened fire at her. That's when the blonde slammed her fists together and started changing. Her hair grew longer, and her hands grew fur and claws. She jumped at me and swung a fist at my head. I blocked with my arm and threw her away before kicking at her head. It connected but didn't do anything as she grabbed my leg and swung me into a wall. I avoided her fist as it swung for my head, missing by inches.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Wash pull out his knife and engage the girl with the katana. The green haired boy pulled at something on the gloves he wore, and I spotted a glint of metal wire. "Wash, heads up, he's using tripwires!" Wash turned to the boy and rolled to the side as several wires shot out at him. That's when I spotted Tucker come flying out of a hallway.

"Sonofabitch," he groaned as he slowly stood up before getting hit by a flying Caboose.

"I think he broke my butt," said Caboose.

"Get off me!" I turned to the hall they came from and saw a man wearing armor and carrying what looked like a giant spear. "Caboose, tell Freckles to help."

"Freckles, do something!"

"**Engaging**," said the A.I. equipped assault rifle. It opened fire on the man who swung his spear in a circle in front of him and blocked the onslaught of bullets.

"That's cheating," exclaimed Tucker as he brought out his sword and went to help Wash. I blocked another punch from the blonde and kicked her away from me before turning to Griff and Simmons.

"You two could help at any time," I called to them.

"I don't have any ammo," called Simmons.

"And my gun's jammed," said Griff.

"Then fix it, and Simmons, you have spare ammo in your pouch," I said.

"Oh, right," exclaimed Simmons. He loaded his battle rifle and aimed at the armored man as Griff aimed at the blonde. "Suck it, White!" they both started firing, forcing the man to retreat back into the hall, unable to deflect both sides simultaneously. He stopped just short as a girl with purple hair, wearing a Chinese styled dress and carrying a human sized pair of scissors blocked the bullets.

"Are those giant scissors," called Wash as Tucker was kicked aside by the scarlet-eyed girl. Wash blocked her katana with his knife, and I turned to him.

"Switch," I shouted. I rolled under him as he leapt over me and dropped his knife, picking up my thrown assault rifle instead as I drew my knife and caught his. I charged at the girl and blocked with Wash's knife while swinging with my own. She was remarkably fast and blocked the incoming strike as soon as her initial strike was deflected. Tucker came back and swung at her. She managed, somehow, to block his sword with her own.

"No fucking way," he shouted. "What's that sword made out of?!"

"Questions later, survive now!" I kicked her away from me and evaded the giant pair of scissors as the purple girl jumped at me and sliced at my neck. Whatever they were made of, they were sharp enough to cut stone. Even though Mjolnir IV is stronger than stone and steel, I'd rather not chance getting hit by those things. She switched to Tucker who's sword managed to block her scissors. I slipped my knife back in its sheathe and pulled out my sidearm. I opened fire on both girls, forcing them to hide behind the scissors before moving to the side, avoiding a massive laser blast from the pink girl in the towel. I fired at her, forcing her to hide behind her friend in the armor.

I turned to my people. "Fall back, outside!" Griff and Simmons were the first ones out, avoiding covering fire from me, Wash and Tucker who pulled out his assault rifle. We retreated back beyond the giant hole in the wall before diving to the side as Pink fired at us once more, this time with a volley of shots like our assault rifles. "Find cover!"

"Where's Church when you need him," asked Tucker.

"That's what I'd like to know."

* * *

**(Seryu's POV)**

I didn't know what to think. All of a sudden my Koro was speaking. Actually talking, not the barking I'd grown used to. And to make matters worse, he sounded like a young man and was saying words I didn't understand. Suddenly, I felt self-conscious about my lack of clothing and put him into the hall in embarrassment. I found myself blushing and holding my hand over my heart as it raced. I didn't know what was going on. I quickly dressed into my civilian clothes, for once thankful I had a day off. Justice was important, but first I needed to figure out if I was going crazy. I steeled myself and peeked out into the hall, finding Koro… Church… still where I had kicked him. Head on the ground, body above his head. "You can come back in now," I said. Church looked at me.

"I would, but I'm not used to this body. I can't even pick myself up," he said. Reluctantly, I made myself to him and helped him onto his feet. He made a motion of dusting himself off as much as he could before turning to me. "Now then. Can you answer my questions, kid?"

"I have a name, Ko… Church. You should know it."

"Look, I don't know how I ended up in your dog, alright. But I'm not him. I don't have his memories. I don't think like him. I'm an A.I.."

"A.I.?"

"Artificial Intelligence. What, have you been living under a rock or s… He paused as he looked at my sword, standard issue for the Imperial Guard. "Kid, what year is it?"

"What?"

"The year."

"It's the year 1024 of the Imperial Calendar."

"Jesus Christ. I'm on a third world planet. That's just fucking perfect!"

"Third world planet?"

"Wait, you're human. How can you be here without the modern technology of the UNSC?"

"UNSC?"

"It's the United Nations Space Command. Standing military of Earth and it's colonies. Responsible for defending all human colonies from threats human and alien."

"Space Command?"

"Yeah, outer space. You know, planets among the stars." I looked up, staring at the ceiling and picturing the stars I always see at night. "For each star, there's at least one habitable planet. We've only been to about a couple hundred of them. The rest are either unexplored or alien controlled."

"Alien?"

"Yeah, humans aren't alone, kid."

"Stop calling me kid. My name is Seryu Ubiquitous."

"Seryu Ubiquitous? That's an unusual name."

"And I'm sure Leonard Church is popular."

"Hey, you'd be surprised. Listen, kid…"

"Seryu."

"Whatever. I need your help." He took a cautious step in front of me before looking right up at me. "Odds are, my team has landed on this planet as well. I need you to help me regroup with them and get us off this planet."

"I can't promise anything."

"Why not?!"

"For one thing, I'm a member of the Imperial Guard. I have a job to do upholding Justice in the Empire."

"That means you can go on patrol. That's perfect, we can look for them during your patrols!"

"I'm not supposed to diverge from my assigned path!"

"Oh, come on! The faster we get this over with, the faster I get back to normal, and you get your dog back!" I considered his words for a bit. I glanced down at him and saw he was trying, key word trying, to look cute and pleading. I held back a laugh with my hand.

"What are you doing?"

"Uh… it was supposed to be the puppy dog look."

"You look more like you're constipated." I keeled over, laughing.

"Well excuse me! I've never had a biological body before! Still working out how to move and stuff."

"What do you mean, never had a biological body?"

"It's… a long story."

"It's my day off, so we have time."

"Well… alright. Let me start off with a question. You ever wonder why we're here…?"

**(Play ending of Blood Gulch Blues here)**


	2. Church's Splitting Headache

**(Sarge's POV)**

* * *

"Lopez," I shouted. "Lopez! Where the hell are you?!" I found myself on a road heading somewhere or other and decided not to follow it! Clearly this was a result of enemy action! Following down one of their roads is exactly what they'd want you to do! I needed to find my team! Recover anything that might have been lost in whatever the hell happened, shoot Griff for potentially putting us in a hostile situation, and find a way to get off this enemy infested planet! I spent two weeks walking around! Hunting the indigenous wildlife and collecting whatever water rations I could to survive. Then I heard the screams. "That's gotta be Griff and Simmons! No one else screams so pathetically!" I rushed down the road and towards the screaming!

"My god… It's some kind of giant monster thing!" Every ounce in my being screamed in joy! I never got to fight a giant monster in the war! There were always stories those wretched Blues had something big, mean, and potentially violent! But, someone else must've gotten to it first, because I never, in all my years, encountered such a ferocious beast. This would have to do. "Today is a good day to die!" I cocked my shotgun and charged the beast, firing every shell I could into it's dense hide! It turned to me and roared it's mighty roar. I aimed my shotgun at one of it's eyes. "Eat hot lead, dirtbag." I pulled the trigger! And the empty click of spent ammo filled the deafening silence left behind by the mighty roar. "Ah shit…" It grabbed me in one enormous claw and roared directly in my face

"Do your worst, maggot! I hope I give you indigestion! Or at the very least, a serious case of ringworm!" It raised me to it's jaw and instantly, I was dropped to the ground, still in the monster's claws! I looked up and saw a young man swinging away with a sword, cutting the beast to apart until it collapsed dead. Then he ran over to me.

"Hey," he called out. "You alright?!"

"Mighty fine work, son! Now, get me out of this damn thing!" Together, we pried the claws open and I climbed to my feet, shotgun still in hand. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." He turned around. "You two ok?!" Looking passed him, I saw two men sitting in an old timey wagon.

"Yeah, thanks kid," said one of them. I stopped paying attention and started reloading my shotgun. To think such a beast wasn't felled by the most elegant weapon in the Red Army, but by a sword! And not a laser sword like that perverted Blue-tard, either! A simple metal sword you'd see in a renaissance fair! What kind of backwoods world did I end up on?! "…Hey, buddy!" I looked up and spotted the men from the wagon and kid staring at me. "We're heading to the Capital. Want a ride there?!" I thought for a good long second. On the one hand, this could lead me to civilization! I could contact the UNSC and potentially find my team! On the other hand… it could be an elaborate trap set by the enemy! That thing could've been their pet! And I, their prey…. But I was out of options. Without them, I couldn't navigate these roads without standard GPS. I nodded and climbed into their wagon along with the boy.

"What kind of weapon is that," asked the boy.

"Classified."

"Classified?"

"Top secret need to know information." Rule number 1! Never divulge information to the enemy! Even if they helped you! Information is the difference between life and death! And these people were potential enemy! Helping me could've been part of some nefarious scheme to let me lower my guard so they could kill me! Well I was too smart for them.

"You don't say much, huh Old Man?"

"I'm not old! I'm the ripe age of 52!"

"…That's old."

"Shut up."

"Can you at least tell me your name? My name's Tatsumi."

"…Sarge."

"Sarge, that's a strange name."

"And Tatsumi isn't? Sounds like a Japanese name!"

"Japanese?"

"You know, Japanese! Land of the Samurai! Sushi! And that wretched Japanese cartoon known as anime!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Mmrgh." We sat in silence for the rest of the ride to this Capital the driver was talking about. We hopped out of the wagon and I stood before a massive stone wall. "Impressive fortifications. Bet that monster from earlier would've had a hard time getting through that."

"Earth dragons generally don't venture close to cities," said Tatsumi. "They stick to forests or mountainous areas. Places where the soil is loose enough to dig through and not blocked off by stone streets. At least, that's what my village elder said."

"Mmrgh." Tatsumi said something about joining the Imperial Army, a noble job if ever there was one. I looked around, trying to get me bearings. Not a single ounce of modern technology. Somehow, I ended up on a backwoods planet. "Where in Sam Hill am I?" Hearing the familiar sounds of revelry, I knew a bar had to be close by. I made my way to the sound of cheers, fights, and clinking glasses when I heard a faint cry for help. "Dammit all…" I pulled my shotgun from my back and charged for the screaming. I heard a girl screaming and a man shouting at her.

"Hey," shouted the man. He sounded oddly familiar. "I didn't do anything! Jesus lady! Haven't you ever seen a dog before?!"

"Get away!" A woman ran passed me and from around a corner, a small white dog walking on its hindlegs walked into view.

"Hey! Don't just run away! I saved your life!" He growled and then looked up at me. "What the…? Sarge!"

"A talking dog?!"

"No, Sarge, it's me! Epsilon! Church!"

"Blue-tard?"

"Yeah!"

"What in blue blazes…?"

"Oh yeah, the dog thing. I don't know it myself. Been like this for two weeks, you'd think people wouldn't freak out when they saw me. This dog belongs to a member of the Imperial Guard, after all. Have you seen the others?"

"No. Been stuck in the wilds for the last two weeks. Only just arrived in this city."

"At least one of us is here. I've tried looking around the city with my owner, but I haven't had much luck finding anyone. I'm not sure if they're even on the same planet as us, let alone the same side of this one."

"We're in quite the predicament. What the hell happened to bring us here?"

"Some kind of spatial anomaly. The pilot brought the ship to a halt and called me Wash and Carolina to the bridge."

"I remember hearing the announcement. I was looking for Lopez."

"That's probably around the time it happened. It spread out, enveloped the whole ship. Next thing I know I'm stuck in this dog. Oh yeah, shoot me."

"Don't have to tell me twice, Blue." I aimed my shotgun and pulled the trigger! The Blue's head split apart brain matter splattering the wall behind him. I grinned in satisfaction! Only for that grin to turn into a frown of disappointment! His head started fusing back together until it looked brand new!

"Pretty freaky, huh?! Some asshole took a shot at me. Seryu, the dog's owner, explained that Koro, the dog, can't die. Not unless its core is destroyed. That's what keeps it, me, together. Apparently I can expand my body mass as well, but I haven't tried that yet."

"Church," called a girl.

"Oh, that's Seryu now. Over here!" I stood by as a girl wearing normal steel armor over a green uniform. At her waist was a sword. She had her hair put into a ponytail, most likely to keep out of the way in combat.

"There you are! Geez, I told you not to take off your leash!"

"Sorry, I wanted to look around again. And it paid off, look who I found!" He gestured to me with his small stubby arms. She looked up and smiled.

"You're one of Church's friends, right? Red armor… you must be Sarge!"

"Nice to meet you, little lady!"

"My name is Seryu Ubiquitous!"

"Seryu is a member of the Imperial Guard here in the Empire," said the dog shaped Blue. "She's been showing me around here while I look for the others."

"Seryu, right," I asked.

"That's me," she exclaimed.

"Mind telling me where that core of your dog's is? This may be my only chance to kill the dastardly leader of the Blue Team!"

"I do mind!"

"Come on, you can always get another one!"

"There's not another dog like Koro! He's an Imperial Arm!"

"Imperial whatsit?"

"Weapons unique to this planet, Sarge," said the Blue. "There're about 47 of them, not including me. And supposedly they're insanely powerful. We're talking WMD status."

"How powerful are you?"

"Don't know. Apparently very powerful."

"Stop thief," called a man nearby.

"Maybe you'll get to see," said the girl. "Come on Church! We have Justice to dispense!"

* * *

**(Church's POV)**

I gagged as Seryu dragged me along my leash. "Seryu," I chocked. "I can't breathe!"

"Sorry," she called as she slowed down and allowed me to climb onto her shoulder. We got to the upset merchant shortly after that.

"What's wrong, citizen!"

"Someone just stole some of my produce! They ran that way!" Seryu took off in the direction he was pointing. I turned around and saw Sarge close behind her.

"She's fast," called Sarge.

"I know! And she's not even a super soldier!" We found ourselves in the slums and I looked around. "Hey, we should split up. Might be easier to find them. Would've been easier if we got a description, but you ran without even bothering.

"Sorry," she said. "Justice is important to me. I tend to get overexcited." I hopped off her shoulder and turned to Sarge. "I'll go with you, cover the southern part of the slums while Seryu takes the north."

"Alright, Blue," said Sarge. "But if you get any plans about trying to kill me…" He cocked his shotgun and slowly leveled it at me.

"Easy Sarge. I'm not equipped to kill you, remember? How exactly am I going to achieve that with these stubby arms?" Sarge grumbled something before lowering his shotgun. We started walking around the slums. I looked around, trying to see exactly where the thief might've gone. We probably searched for about an hour before Sarge pointed me to a small alley. I looked in it and spotted a kid giving a piece of bread and some cheese to a little girl, probably the kid's sister. "Well ain't that a bitch? It's just a couple of kids trying to survive."

"Church," called Seryu as she walked over. The boy got spooked and stood in front of his sister and the food. "Did you find them?"

"It's just a couple of kids, Seryu. All this trouble for a loaf of bread. It's nothing serious."

"We must make sure evil doesn't blossom from this!"

"Evil? What are you talking about?"

"Church, eat them."

"What?! I'm not gonna…" I stopped talking as my body started hurting. I groaned as I started to contort. My arms grew as did my height. I felt drool dripping down my chin and my teeth had extended out as well. My arms started extending to the children and I tried stopping myself. I was struggling just to keep myself from grabbing them. They backed into a corner, trying to get away from me. "**R-run**," I managed to get out as I pulled myself from the alley slightly. The boy took his sister's hand and they ran passed me. I turned around to them as Seryu looked at me, shocked.

"Church?! What are you doing?! They're getting away!"

"**Sarge! The core is behind my right eye! You need a precise shot to stop me!"**

"Stop you," asked Seryu. She turned to Sarge and saw him pull out his Magnum. I roared and slammed my arms into him. He grunted as he was knocked into the wall of an empty building. I tried resisting the compulsion to go after the kids, but I could tell it was a losing battle.

"**Seryu… please… don't make me do this… They're kids… just trying to… survive…"** I growled as I managed to gain control of one of my arms and tried keeping the rest of my body from moving by grabbing onto the ground. I felt my body start ripping in two as I tried very hard to keep myself from doing what Seryu ordered me to. Seryu told me later that's exactly what she saw happening. I didn't hear her give the order to stop, I just remember blacking out from the pain my body was in.

I woke up the next day in some sort of lab with a weird guy in a lab coat and purple hair standing over me. "Good to see you back to normal, Hekatonkheires," he said. "That was some extensive damage done to you."

"Oh, my head… I feel like I was almost ripped in half." The man jumped away from me in surprise. I forgot only Seryu was fully aware of Koro now being able to talk. "Oh right, uh… arf?"

"You can talk," he asked. I sighed.

"Yeah, I can talk. I gotta learn to stop speaking out loud when I'm thinking."

"When did this phenomenon start?"

"Uh… when I fucked your mom."

"…Pleasant. Can we avoid the sarcastic comments please?"

"Can you do something about your fucking weird hair? Seriously, what in your right mind made you think that spiky purple and white hair was a good idea?"

"I'll have you know my hair is the epitome of style!"

"Maybe in an insane asylum. How do I know that's not where you're supposed to be?"

"Rrgh. Out of my lab, ingrate!"

"Fine by me. Later weirdo." I went to a door and decided to try stretching out my arm to open it. My arm grew to the bulky one from the night before and I frowned when memories of what happened crossed my mind. Seryu ordered me to eat those kids, kids who were just trying to live. I needed to have a serious talk with her about that. I went out into the hall and found myself facing Seryu as she sat in a chair by the door. Apparently she'd fallen asleep waiting for that doctor guy to finish fixing me. She was leaning against the wall, hands in her lap and mouth slightly open as she slept.

"How ya feelin' Blue," asked Sarge to my left. I turned to him and saw he was sitting in another chair, his helmet sitting on the floor by his feet revealing a grizzled face with a five o'clock shadow, greying brown hair and dark brown eyes. A faint scar on his chin, most likely from his time as an ODST the only blemish on his skin.

"Like crap. You know, I think this is one of the few times you've taken off your helmet, Sarge."

"Shut up. We're in neutral territory. They don't try to kill us so long as we don't try to kill them. Your friend's been worried. Hasn't left that chair to let that Doctor Stylish guy fix you up."

"His name's Doctor Stylish? Talk about ironic."

"Hmm. Listen Blue. We need to find our teams, find the ship and get off this planet. It's a backwoods place. They shouldn't know about the UNSC. The fact you've told her anything is a direct violation of First Contact protocol."

"How would you know?"

"When you knocked me into that building, a few regulation memories came back. Quelled my bloodlust, somewhat, at least. We can't stay on this planet, Blue. The longer we stay, the more we risk exposing the UNSC to these people. They don't have the same technology as we do on Earth or any of the colonies. And these Imperial Arms Seryu told me about, they sound like they'd be bad news for us if we ever came back here."

"Why wouldn't we come back?"

"The civil war that's going on right now. We can't get involved. It would be seen as a deliberate act by UNSC personnel on a low tech world. We can't interfere with their matters. No matter who we meet or how much we might want to."

"Wow, Sarge. It's not like you to pass up on a war."

"Church, Chorus was one thing, it was a former UNSC planet, officially we were acting under UNSC orders to save people of Chorus. People from the Unified Earth Government. Unofficially, the brass are looking the other way for exposing Hargrove and Charon Industries. Chorus may have defected, but only because they had no choice due to lack of communication with the UNSC and other colonies during the war. This planet, on the other hand, has no affiliation with the UEG, UNSC, or any of the colonies. In fact, these people may look human, but there's no guarantee they are human. They have no tech to have brought them here, meaning they are descendants of people from this planet. Meaning officially, they're aliens. This is a First Contact scenario with a technologically inferior race."

"So we can't help with things?"

"We can't meaning me and the others. Washington and Carolina are probably already aware of this fact, provided they've met some of the people on this planet. Any actions we take must remain neutral. Otherwise we risk getting our hides tanned by the brass at HIGHCOM." Sarge picked up his helmet and put his shotgun on his back. "Wake her up. I think you two have somethings to talk about. She led me to the mess hall a few hours ago. We'll meet up there." Sarge walked away and I sighed. I turned to Seryu and shook her leg.

"Hey, wake up. We need to talk." Seryu groaned softly as she stirred from her sleep. She spotted me and instantly pulled me into a hug, burying my face between her breasts, more than likely out of habit from before I possessed Koro.

"Church! I was worried!"

"Um… I know I have the body of a dog, but I was based off of the mind of a human man, so can you…" I saw her face turn red from where I was situated and she pulled me away from her, clearly embarrassed.

"S-sorry."

"It's fine. I don't think this body can get aroused anyway. Listen, we need to talk."

"Is this about yesterday?"

"Yeah. Why the fuck did you order me to eat those kids?!"

"They broke the law!"

"They were trying to survive! Jesus Christ, it was just some food they took!"

"One bad action…"

"Doesn't lead to a life of crime! Seryu, the kid just wanted to feed his little sister! Any older brother would've done the same fucking thing! I would've done the same if I were in that situation!"

"Church!"

"It's just doing what you need to do to survive! You can't fault them for that! If they were dealing drugs, selling weapons or, God forbid, enslaving people, then I'd be worried. But that kind of thing is only done by fucked up adults who don't care who they hurt to get rich! Hell, I bet half the nobles are guilty of doing just that!"

"How could you say that?! They're all nobles! Loyal families of the Empire who wouldn't want to do such things to its people!"

"Wake up, already! You can't be so blind as to not see the potential evil right under your very nose!"

Seryu stayed quiet as she glared at me. She grunted and stood up before fixing the leash onto my collar. "Come on, we're going on patrol. Say nothing the entire time."

"Sorry, can't do that. I hate long drawn out silences." Seryu groaned and I followed after her. We were close to the end of her patrol and I was hitting every nerve I could think of. "Oop. There's a kid. Hope you don't want me to EAT HIM!"

"Would you shut up?!"

"Looks like mute isn't something you can order me to be, unlike a giant CHILD-EATING MONSTER!"

"I'm sorry, ok?! If it'll shut you up, I'm sorry!"

"Well that's one step in the right direction. I-" I sniffed the air as something caught my scent. "Wait, stop."

"What is it, Blue," asked Sarge behind us. I jumped and turned to him.

"Jesus Christ! Say something next time you sneak up behind me. I have a heart now I don't want it to explode!"

"Very funny. I've been following you the whole time! Now tell us what's wrong, before I show you my regular brand of Red Justice!" I turned to Seryu. She grinned at me.

"Oh, I'd love to see that kind of Justice."

"My words just got the better of me, huh," I asked.

"Oh, yeah." I sighed.

"I smelled something. Smelt like iron. I think it's blood."

"Lead the way, Blue-Hound!"

"Heh, good one," said Sarge.

"That's not sticking! This way!" I led them down a forested path and to a large manor where the smell was more prevalent. That's when we noticed the slew of bodies on the front lawn. "Jesus Christ. What the hell happened here?"

"This looks recent." Sarge clicked on his flashlight and shined it on the bodies.

"What the hell is that?" I pointed to a body covered in black marks. Seryu examined the body before her face contorted in anger.

"This is the work of a stolen Imperial Arm, Murasame. In the hands of Night Raid's Akame!"

"Sarge, any guess as to how recent this is?" We heard a scream coming from around the giant mansion.

"There's your answer, Blue-Hound," said Sarge.

"Not a thing! Come on!" I led them to where I heard the sound of clinking metal and found a kid defending against a weird girl with black hair and a katana. I stopped Seryu from calling out to them. "Wait," I whispered. "We should wait to see what's going on. For all we know she was provoked into defending herself."

"She's wanted by the Empire for assassination," Seryu whispered back.

"I know. That doesn't mean this is what's going on!"

"Both of you, shut up," said Sarge. "I know that kid. I came into the Capital with him. Had dreams of joining the army." We watched as he was stabbed in the chest by the katana. The girl jumped away and this time Sarge stopped Seryu. "Wait. He's playing opossum. No markings, and there's not a drop of blood on that sword." I watched as the boy slowly got up and pull out a small statue from beneath his shirt. "Kid's got luck on his side."

"She's going in for the kill," said Seryu. Just as she said it, a blonde woman wearing a skimpy outfit and a feral grin stopped her by pulling on her hair. "That's gotta be another member of Night Raid! Can we go intercept them now?!"

"Alright fine," I said. "But if you want me to eat them too, count me out." We went up behind them and Sarge aimed his shotgun at the blonde's head.

"Freeze, Bimbo," he said.

"What the…?" She turned around and stared down the barrel of the shotgun. Seryu and I stood behind him and Seryu ordered for me to grow to my larger height. Sarge turned to the kid.

"You alright, son?"

"Old Man," asked the kid, making Sarge grumble.

"Before you do anything," said the blonde. "You should see this, Sarge." The three of us watched her in surprise as she went to the shed. I couldn't believe my eyes as I saw what was inside. Bodies. All in various states of decay. Some were stacked on tables, other's hanging from chains. There was even a few in a cage. The kid gasped as he looked at one of the hanging bodies.

"S-Sayo…"

"Jesus Christ," I muttered.

"This family has been taking people off the streets and killing them. Sometimes by cutting them up, other times by torture. The matron of the estate, Emmanuelle Braun, even injected a virus into some of them."

"B-But the Braun's…" started Seryu. Something in her couldn't comprehend what she was seeing and hearing. It was like she was broken inside, like her mind couldn't handle the fact that something like this was being done by the people she was always protecting and serving. The blonde girl the kid was protecting started going on a rant as I checked on Seryu, shrinking to my normal size. She stared at nothing before turning to the Braun girl. I heard someone inside the shed speaking with the kid, now named Tatsumi. He turned to the girl and stopped the two Night Raid assassins from killing her before taking a swing at her waist. It would've bisected her, had she not taken a stumbling step back, giving her just a small cut in her waist, and cutting her shirt. She ran over to the three of us and hid behind Seryu.

"Guard," she cried. "My name is Aria Braun! They're assassins from Night Raid! Kill them!" Seryu stared at her, eyes wide and hollow. Aria took a step away from her, not liking the look in her eyes.

"All those people… innocent people… and you killed them… why…?"

"They're just peasants! Not worth breathing the same air, what of it?!"

"Church…" I turned to her, not liking the tone in her voice. "Rip her limb from limb and devour each of them…"

"What," exclaimed me and Aria. That's when the pain returned and this time, I couldn't fight back. I guess some part of me agreed with Seryu about this girl. She was crazy and deserved everything she had coming to her. My only hang up was eating the girl, even then, it's like I blacked out when it happened. All of a sudden I was back to my normal size, the pain gone and a liquid, I assume it was Aria's blood, dripping from my mouth. Then I heard an all too familiar voice come from the mansion.

"Hey, Akame, Leone! You guys done out here or what?!" I turned to the mansion and saw aquamarine Mjolnir IV armor run out before stopping short. "Holy shit, Sarge," called probably my best friend out of all of the Reds and Blues, Lavernius Tucker.

"Tucker," I shouted in question.

"What the…? Church?!"

"Church," shouted a voice from the mansion. I looked behind Tucker and saw blue Mjolnir III armor run out. "Where is he?! Where is Church?!"

"Oh no, Caboose…," I said. Caboose looked at me.

"Oh. My. God. Church is a puppy! This is the best! Day! Ever! Of all time!"

"Sarge," I said.

"Yeah," asked the Red Team's deranged and fearless leader.

"Remember where I said my core was?"

"Yep."

"Feel free to shoot me now." **(Play end of Blood Gulch Blues here)** "I mean it."


	3. Dog Treats and Dilemas

**(Church's POV)**

I stood on the ground, growling as I looked up at Wash and Carolina as they stared down at me. Oh, I could just feel the smirk hidden behind Carolina's damn visor. "Um…" said Wash. "Run this by me again?"

"I just told you," I yelled. "After that flash I woke up in this body!"

"No I got that. Just… how?"

"I. Don't. Know. We've been over this!"

"Wow," said Griff. "You know, I always knew you were a son of a bitch."

"I will bite you!" I barked, loudly, making Griff hide behind Wash. "And unlike most dogs, my bite is worse than my bark!"

"We can attest to that," said the blonde woman from before, Leone from what Tucker told me. "Gobbled up that Braun girl like she was a piece of mutton." I turned to her.

"Hey," I said. "Bimbo. How's Seryu?"

"Your owner is fine, Dog Boy. She's asleep in one of our spare rooms. You sure she'll be fine by herself?"

"Yeah, she's harmless without me. She won't attack anyone. I hope," I muttered that last part.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Hey, can we finish up this taunt the pooch thing, I need to hide before Caboose realizes there's no dog treat fairy outside."

"I'm back," said Caboose behind me. I jump in surprise and pat at my chest to slow my now pounding heart. How you biologicals live with these things is beyond me. "The dog treat lady was very mean to me," he whispered.

"Wait," said Griff. "You mean you found her? How?"

"Oh, she found me outside. I asked her if she was the fairy lady. She asked me who I was, what I was doing here and then the mean pink lady stood between us and told me to go inside. Yeah. The dog treat lady was weird. She had an eye patch and a metal arm. I think that's where the treats are stored."

"Wait," said Leone after Caboose was done rambling. "The boss is here?! Oh crap!" She made to start running only for a mechanical hand to shoot out and grab her by the back of her shirt before dragging her backwards. I looked where it came from and spotted a woman who looked how Caboose had just described. The pink girl with a weird name standing right beside her with a large bump on her head and a sulking expression. Leone chuckled nervously. "H-hey, Boss." She gave her best smile.

"Leone," said her boss. "Who are these people and what are they doing here?"

* * *

**(Flashback)**

"We're getting nowhere like this," shouted Wash over the gunfire from Carolina and the pink girl inside the building. "Tucker, hand me a grenade!"

"I'm out," he exclaimed.

"I got one," said Caboose.

"Wait," said Wash. "Caboose! No!" Caboose tossed the grenade and it managed to ricochet off of a piece of debris in the air from the pink girl's shooting and back towards the Reds and Blues firing position. "Oh come on!" Wash tackled Caboose and Carolina to the ground as Tucker dove out of the way while the grenade exploded and toppled the tree Griff was cowering behind.

"Ah," he exclaimed as he backed up and tripped over an unconscious Simmons who fainted right after Carolina started firing back. "Oh great!" Griff heard growling and slowly turned his head to see another puma snarling at him. "Oh no!" All firing stopped as the puma tackled him into the clearing and Griff struggled to keep its jaws from him. "Somebody help! I can't die as food! Oh, the irony!" Griff stopped struggling as the armored man on the other side jabbed a very large spear into the puma's neck and spilled blood over the red glutton. Griff spluttered as he sat up and shook blood off of him before looking up and seeing the same spear aimed at him. "Yipe…"

"Back away. Slowly." Wash managed to maneuver himself behind the man, safe from the pink girl's shots and placed his Magnum at the back of his neck just beneath the armor. The man glanced backwards, making Wash press the gun harder into his neck. "Drop your weapon and let the idiot go." The man reluctantly threw down his spear and held his hands above his head. "Carolina?!"

"I have a shot aimed at his head," she called out. "Unless you want his brains splattered all over the ground, come out with your hands up!" Their attackers slowly came out with the pink gunner aiming at her. "Drop it…" Mine growled before throwing her gun to the ground. "Good. If the rest of you try anything, your friend is as good as dead."

"Fuck yeah," shouted Tucker. "Good guys: 5, bad guys: 0!"

"Bad guys," asked Mine with a growl. "You're the fucking pervert who snuck into our bath!"

"Hey, whoa! I didn't sneak into anything! That's not my style" Tucker stopped talking as he saw Carolina glance at him with a life-threatening glare. "A-anyway. We didn't sneak in! One minute we were on our ship, the next thing I knew me, and Caboose suddenly appeared in your hot springs! Then your friend tried to kill our… well, they're not really friends. More like asshole family members you can't stand but have to tolerate."

"I wasn't trying to kill them," said Akame. "I was trying to kill that." She pointed at Simmons. The Reds and Blues turned and spotted a giant tick sucking blood from his neck and growing bigger.

"Jesus Christ," shouted Griff as he scrambled away from it.

"And then you attacked us."

"Wait," said Carolina as she shot the tick. "So this was all a big fucking misunderstanding?" Akame nodded calmly. Wash and Carolina sighed in annoyance and holstered their weapons. "Is it too late to apologize?"

* * *

**(Church's POV)**

"Then we got to talking and they agreed to help us with the Braun job in exchange for looking for their friends," Leone finished talking. I looked at Carolina.

"Not like you to jump the gun," I said.

"Epsilon," she said. "Stop talking before I make you wear a muzzle." She removed her helmet and walked over to the woman. "You must be General Najenda. I'm Agent Carolina. Me and my friends here are willing and able to help fight alongside you. It will give us opportunities to find the rest of our friends and contact our ship."

"You sailed here," asked Najenda.

"Not that kinda ship, Boss," said Leone. "They say they're from space!" I looked at Sarge and heard him grumbling under his breath.

"From space."

"As far fetched as it sounds," said Wash. "It's true. We're part of the UNSC, an organization created to protect Earth and all of its Colony planets."

"Washington," said Sarge. "Carolina, can I have a word with you? Church, you too."

"Excuse us," said Carolina to Najenda. She turned to Tucker. "Watch him." She nodded to Caboose who was staring at a fire in the fireplace.

"Who am I," asked Tucker. "His keeper?"

"Well it is a Tuesday," I said. "Tuesdays are your days to watch him."

"Oh, goddammit."

"We'll be right back," said Carolina. "Just make sure he doesn't touch anything."

"Ooh, button," said Caboose who had wandered over to Mine's Imperial Arm.

"Dammit," said Tucker. "Caboose, get away from that thing!" We followed Sarge out of the building and Carolina picked me up, so I wasn't close to the ground.

"What's up," asked Washington.

"Y'all need to stop telling them about who we are and where we're from."

"Why?" Carolina seemed to understand immediately.

"Wait, First Contract Protocol," she asked

"That's right," said Sarge. "We are not dealing with another colony from Earth. We are on an alien planet! They may look human, they may be able to speak the same language as us, as asinine as that sounds, and they may be good people, but in according to the UNSC charter, by all accounts, this is not a colony planet started by the UNSC. This is not a world where we happened to forget about and left behind like Chorus. They have their own calendar that stretches back past the beginning of the New Age of Exploration. We are on an unknown planet. We're alien invaders with advanced technology."

"What are you saying, Sarge," asked Wash.

"We cannot get involved with their matters more than we already have. The fact that people have already seen me in my armor is bad enough, that you and Sir Barks-a-lot, here…"

"Hey," I exclaimed.

"…have divulged classified UNSC information to the natives is even worse."

"Wash," asked Carolina.

"Yeah," replied her fellow former Freelancer.

"Did I hit my head on something or is Sarge making sense." I sighed as I realized what happened.

"No," I said. "You didn't hit your head. Sarge did." I told them about when I resisted Seryu's order to eat the little girl and what happened after.

"So," said Wash. "You knocked Sarge into a building and knocked a loose screw back in place."

"That about sums it up."

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"What about any of this makes any sense?! I'm possessing a fucking dog! And this isn't even the most insane thing we've encountered here! Sarge killed a dragon! A fucking dragon!"

"You have to admit," said Carolina. "It's kind of par for the course for this group."

"Thank you!"

"But Sarge, even you have to admit we don't know the layout of this planet. We don't know where the ship may be, if it even is in the atmosphere or if it crashed on the planet after that light."

"Then we do things old school. We get maps and look for it ourselves."

"That could take months," exclaimed Wash.

"Nonsense! All we need is grit! And a little ingenuity!"

"He's right, Sarge," I said. "If this place is the same size as Earth, then the area to search in is massive. On foot it would take us years checking each region on a single continent. And if it landed in an ocean…"

"Then we have no means of getting to it," said Carolina.

"That's where you're wrong, Missy," said Sarge. "All of us can reach extreme depths without fear! Our armor comes equipped with rebreathers and can withstand multiple tons of pressure!"

"…How do you know that?"

"Simple. We drove a Warthog underwater!"

"…What?"

* * *

**(Northern Nation Regions)**

A man in green Mjolnir armor woke up and noticed he was in the middle of a frozen tundra. He stood up and looked around. "Where am I," he asked himself. He stood up and checked his equipment, finding a Magnum magnetically attached to his hip. Nearby was the standard Assault Rifle. He picked it up and looked around. He turned on his coms. "Can anyone hear me? Is there anybody on this frequency nearby?" His question was met with static and howling winds as he looked around. His visor picked up a signal and he instantly started moving towards it. He looked around to try and spot a landmass amidst the white landscape or any sign of his ship. "Come in, can you hear me? Keep your signal up. I'm nearing your location." He kept walking until his visor told him that he was standing over the signal. He looked down and started digging in the snow, the Assault Rifle attached to his back. He stopped when he noticed a small chip buried in the snow. Without a second thought he plugged it into his helmet.

"Connecting with systems," came a familiar voice in his helmet. "All systems online. Chief?"

"Cortana."

"Where are we?"

"I don't know. But we're not on the _Forward Unto Dawn_. What happened? I remember you putting me into cryostasis."

"I… don't remember. I was working on upgrading your armor while you slept and… then there was a bright flash. Then next thing I know I'm back in your helmet, not plugged into the ship's backup systems keeping you alive." The A.I. projected herself on his visor. "Where are we?"

"No clue. I was lucky enough to pick up the signal coming from your chip."

"What signal? I was powered down." Master Chief, John-117, looked down and sure enough his visor showed a signal was still broadcasting. With Cortana boosting his helmets signal, he could tell it was a mile under them. "That's a UNSC signal. Why is it down there?"

"Better question. How do we get down there?" The sound of fighting brought his attention from the ground and to where Cortana was able to deduce as south.

"Sounds like trouble, Chief."

"But who is fighting?"

"Only one way to find out." John nodded and pulled forward his Assault Rifle and made his way towards the altercation. He started looking around out of habit, on alert in case an enemy managed to sneak up behind him. He was glad there was no storm in the area obscuring his vision. He brought himself to the source of the sounds of war and noticed he was on a cliff overlooking what looked like a city. In the middle of the city two armies were fighting.

"Cortana. What am I looking at?"

"Seems to be a war. They're fighting with spears, shields and what looks like flintlock rifles."

"What's going on here?" They watched the fighting, hoping their position on the cliff gave them some cover from anyone happening to look up. "This seems incredibly one sided."

"I think the one's winning are locals of this area, Chief. They seem better equipped for the cold and know the layout of the city better than the other army."

"At this rate, the attackers will be routed. Maybe when they fall back we can find out about this place."

"Chief. It looks like there's someone heading to the fighting." John looked where Cortana indicated and spotted a woman in a white uniform showing more cleavage than should be allowed for a military commander if her posturing was anything to go by.

"What's she doing?"

"Chief. The temperature is dropping around her. Watch out!" John spotted a wall of ice sprouting from the ground and wrecking the city heading in his direction. He dove to the side as the ice impacted the cliff he was on and looked down at the city. Both armies had been decimated by the attack and the defenders were stunned at the display. The attacking army took the moment of shocked pause to press their attack and advance on the enemy. John watched as some of the defenders threw down their arms and were quickly cut down.

"They're surrendering! This is slaughter!"

"Chief, don't do what I think you're about to do! We can't get involved. What can we do? You don't have any spare ammunition, once the Magnum and rifle are out of ammo, what can you do? There are too many of them!" John looked down at the cliff.

"Then we take out the commander." He swapped the Assault Rifle for the Magnum and zoomed in on the woman.

"Make it count, once our position is blown we need to get out of there."

"Roger." Master Chief of the Navy, Spartan John-117 lined up his shot with the woman's head, waited for Cortana to give him the signal for the least amount of wind drift before he pulled the trigger. He stared in surprise as a wall of ice blocked the projectile before lowering and showing the woman turning to his direction.

"Run John!" The Spartan II started running away from his position as another wave of ice crashed into the cliff. John started running, not hearing another crack of ice coming his way but wasn't about to stop. This woman could control ice at will and he was on her turf. Fighting wasn't an option. He could only run and pray she didn't have a means of tracking or catching up to him.

"Cortana. Any progress with those upgrades?"

"Only one! Nanobots can only do so much!"

"Use it!"

"Ten seconds!"

"Running away, are we," asked a voice behind them. John kept running but glanced behind him and spotted the woman falling from the sky to him. How the hell did she get up there?!

"Sonofa…" muttered Master Chief as stopped and lifted his arms in a defensive stance as her rapier came down to him. It scraped along his gauntlets and John slung a fist forward to hopefully catch her in the face only to hit a wall of ice as the woman leapt backwards and away from him. The ice wall shattered, and John brought up his Magnum, aiming at the woman.

"I've never seen armor like that before. It seems out of place here in the Northern Tribe's land. Where are you from?" John said nothing as he continued to aim at her, hoping she wouldn't take another towards him. She seemed more dangerous than the Covenant's Hunters and she was a fraction of their size. "Not speaking, I see. Good. Making you talk will be quite fun. She launched forward and Cortana activated her upgrade to his armor.

John lifted off of the ground as jump jets activated on his back and a ball of ice hit nothing but air and snow as Cortana guided the jets away from the woman at high speeds towards the south, away from the fighting and the ice woman who grinned as he flew away. "You won't get far! Your armor sticks out like a sore thumb!"

"She's right," said John as he landed after a few minutes of nonstop flying, draining his shields as a power source for continuous flight. "My armor isn't equipped for arctic combat, let alone hiding from a woman who's at home in such an environment."

"Well, we don't have passive camouflage otherwise hiding would be as simple as burying yourself in snow. Your armor hides your breathing and you can stay as still as you like, and no one can lift you up. The problem is the green tint, as you stated. Someone or something digging around will find you instantly. We can't exactly leave it lying around so we have no choice but to keep going and pray she doesn't find us or there's an evergreen forest near…"

"Cortana."

"Chief, I just detected a massive surge of energy. Forerunner energy. I think this place is one of their planets." Master Chief looked up at the sky.

"At least it's not one of the Ring Worlds. If that woman would've gotten her hands on that kind of power, there'd be no stopping her."

"That's if she's willing to kill herself."

"That look in her eye was enough to tell me she would if it meant killing a powerful enemy. If we ever encounter her again, there's little I can do."

"What do we do now?"

"For now, we find the source of the energy surge. Any idea where it came from?"

"I could only make out a single direction. South."

"Her army came from that direction if the defending army's position was anything to go by."

"Then we need to be extremely careful and see if we can avoid her when she makes her trip home."

"Roger. Keep coms open. If there's a UNSC ship buried under the ice north of that city, there may be other UNSC personnel on this planet as well. We should meet up with them and find a way off of this planet."

"We also should ensure all UNSC technology is recovered or destroyed. We can't leave anything on this planet."

"Roger. Moving out."

* * *

**(Night Raid Base)**

Seryu groaned as she sat up in bed and blinked as she came face to face with an orange visor in a blue helmet. "Hi," said Caboose. Seryu gasped as she backed up in the bed she was in. "You're Church's friend!"

"Caboose, right?"

"Yeah, that's me. Church's _best_ friend." He gasped. "And dogs are man's best friend! So that means…"

"Yeah…?"

"…I don't know. I thought I was onto something but I started thinking about dogs and how dogs drool and how when Church was human he used to drool in his sleep a lot and then I thought about back home and how it'll be nice to have all of my friends together again. Yeah."

"Your mind just goes wherever, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, I think it has a mind of its own."

"Guess Church was right, you are a bit strange." She turned to the door and was instantly on edge as she spotted General Najenda in the doorway.

"Caboose," said the ex-general. "Go downstairs. Wash was looking for you."

"Ok, dog treat lady." Seryu looked at Najenda in confusion as Caboose walked past her.

"Don't ask. Your name is Seryu Ubiquitous, right?"

"Y-yes ma'am," replied the Imperial Guardswoman.

"I remember your parents. They were good people. Listen. I hope you understand this but we can't just let you leave."

"This is about my position in the Guard, right?"

"Yes. We understand you are Church's friend and given who his other friends are, we would allow you to leave, your position in the Guard and your duty conflicts with our best interests. Hence our dilemma." Najenda pulled out a cigarette and looked at her. "Do you mind?"

"Go ahead." Najenda lit the cigarette and took a drag before blowing out a puff of smoke away from Seryu.

"Naturally, we will blindfold you when escorting you out like we did bringing you here. You and Church, in case Hekatonkheires can see what Church does. We'll take you back to the Capital and you can go back to your duties. I know you have to tell your superiors that you encountered us, but please do not identify anyone other than myself and Akame."

"You're criminals. Murderers."

"We don't kill innocent people. You saw as much last night, Miss Ubiquitous. Our contracts are only those who are corrupt, like the Brauns."

"How do you know they're corrupt?! They're citizens of the Empire!"

"They're nobles. All of the people we've killed have been nobles who do everything in their power to avoid prison, fill their pockets, or literally get away with murder, all while hurting the Empire and its people."

"That's impossible! We would've caught them!"

"Money tends to be a valuable deterrent to duty. Especially to people who are in a position to look the other way."

"Shut up! Captain Ogre and General Budo would never do such a thing!"

"Budo wouldn't, I know that much. He's loyal to the Empire and its laws. Ogre, on the other hand? How much does a Captain of the Imperial Guard make? Do you know?"

"600 silver coins a month."

"Barely enough to afford to rent a room let alone a house. Ogre isn't from a noble house. He doesn't have spare money to fall back on or family to help him with expenses. The next time you're in the Capital, pay attention to Ogre when you're on patrol with him. Watch what he does, what paths he takes and see if anything happens on the paths he doesn't. Look for anything, a pattern, certain tells he may have. You'll see what I'm telling you."

"I don't believe you! You're a traitor to the Empire! An assassin of its people!"

"Not its people! It's monsters. Monsters aren't only Danger Beasts. Here's another suggestion. While you're on patrol, look at how the people act around the Guard. Around you, for that matter. You can rest up for a moment before we allow you to leave." Najenda blew out some more smoke before leaving Seryu. The Imperial Guard Sergeant glared at the open doorway before growling and throwing her pillow out into the hall.

"Ow," muttered Church who was hit by the pillow.

"Church," asked Seryu.

"Yeah, it's me." Church carried the pillow back into the room and handed it to her before climbing onto the bed. "How are you feeling? After the Braun thing you kinda shut down."

"How could they do such a thing?"

"Because they were assholes. Major assholes, not cool assholes like us. They thought their money could buy their way away from anything, including justice. Turns out it couldn't. Seems people have more courageous hearts than they were given credit for. One of the servants tried to bring this up with a higher up in the Guard. The investigation took all of five minutes before the Guard left and the servant was killed, the body hidden in the shed with the others. Seeing that the Guard wouldn't do a damn thing, they turned to these guys."

"That-that shouldn't be happening."

"Well it does. It's called greed, Ser. Best motivator in the galaxy. It doesn't even need to be money! You could bribe Griff with a bacon wrapped prime rib!"

"I think that's more gluttony than greed."

"Same fucking difference! And you know who the greediest people usually are? People who have more money than they know what to do with!"

"This sounds personal."

"It is. Director Church was one of those people. He was a good man once, just ask Carolina. Then he-then we-I… lost Allison to the war." Church stared off into the distance as the Director's memories started flooding in. "I was a mess and Project Freelancer had just taken off. Ali was our prime candidate for the program. Around the time I got approval for the funding was when me and Catelyn got the news about Allison. She'd died getting her team out of a boxed in firing zone. Catelyn was a mess, I wasn't much better, hell I was worse." Seryu blinked as Koro's body seemed to take the form of an adult man who seemed older than he appeared, and Church's voice started developing an accent she couldn't place.

"Catelyn was silent. She didn't know how to process what it was that was happening. I drowned myself in alcohol and work, barely made any time for her. She was my daughter for Christ sake!" Out in the hall, Carolina, Catelyn, heard Church's voice, her father's voice, and covered her mouth to hide her gasp. "And then we got clearance for the use of an A.I.. I, in my infinite wisdom, flash copied my brain and made Alpha. And then Alpha in turn created Beta when he couldn't deal with the memories, much like me. I don't know how I survived that procedure, but I did…"

Church turned back to normal and seemed to stare off into the distance. "When Beta was created, the Director tried using him to bring Allison back in some form, I told you this much already. And I get why he did it. I have his memories, after all. He wanted to bring Allison back. Thought Alpha and then me was the answer. It wasn't for him. He wanted Carolina to have her mother again in one form or another, even if she had been grown up for years. So, they implanted Beta into a willing soldier, created Tex. It wasn't quite what he was looking for. He spent years trying to get it right, trying to bring Carolina back her mother. Just so he could see his little girl smile again." Church turned to Seryu. "In the end, his position got him to believe he could get away with anything as long as it meant he got Allison back. The nobles? They're ancestors may have been in similar positions only for their kids to catch onto what was going on and continuing the practice because they felt they can get away with it. That's how you end up with the Brauns and other people like them."

"What happened just now?"

"What do you mean?"

"You kind of… turned human and your voice changed."

"It did? Wait… I was human?!"

"You were him," said Carolina as she stepped into the room. "You were the Director." Church turned to her. He noticed tears starting to well up in her eyes. "You… you were Dad."

"You've never addressed him as Dad before."

"Because he stopped being my Dad when he became obsessed with trying to bring Mom back." Church looked her in the eye, and she smiled sadly. "Hearing his voice again, hearing him angry with himself and on the verge of tears… it felt like he was… like he was back to his old self. He wasn't as… cold… as he was in Project Freelancer."

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah."

"This may be the first time I remember you almost crying, Carolina."

"Don't get used to it. Came to let you know, Simmons managed to pick up something?"

"What a deadly disease? I told him not to test the local flora."

"No. A radio transmission. It was vague but it was on the UNSC emergency frequency before it cut out."

"How did he find it?"

"Well…"

* * *

**(10 minutes earlier)**

"Wait," said Simmons. "So your armor allows you to increase your speed and strength?"

"That's right," said Bulat.

"By how much?"

"Don't know. Never really scaled it."

"Hmm. Well, the Mjolnir IV weighs about two tons. That's probably the heaviest thing on this planet. Why don't you try lifting me and we can see exactly how… much?" Bulat grabbed Simmons by the chest piece and threw him high up into the air. "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Simmons screams stopped suddenly as the sound of static filled his coms. _"…there… this frequen…"_

"What the…? Is someone there?!"

"…_signal up… your location…"_

"Come in, come in! This is Corporal Simmons of the UNSC! Can you hear me?! Hello?!" Simmons was too busy adjusting the signal of his coms and didn't notice he was already close to the ground. "Holy shit!" Bulat looked at Simmons as he landed nearby. "…Ow…"

"Are you ok? Guess I threw you a little too hard."

* * *

**(Present time)**

"Simmons checked his coms," said Carolina. "It was the UNSC emergency broadcast signal. We weren't able to tell where it was coming from, but at least we know there are other UNSC personnel on this planet."

"That's good and all," said Church. "But unless we find them, we're not exactly home free. And there's still this to worry about." Church waved his nubs to try and gesture to his body.

"One thing at a time, Epsilon. First let's find the ship, then we can see what to do about your furry little problem."

"Hey, don't call me little!" Seryu giggled slightly as Church seemed to growl.

"You know," she said. "I didn't think Koro was capable of doing that?"

"Doing what? Growling?"

"No, dummy. Changing into anything other than the forms I was familiar with. I wonder if this is only because of you or if there are other forms we can access."

"Well, might as well see what we can. Just a quick question. What are you gonna do when we get back to the Capital?" Seryu grew quiet before sighing.

"I don't know."

"Caboose," shouted Tucker down the hall. "Put that down!"

"I just want to press the button," shouted Caboose.

"No," shouted Mine. "Not that one!" Seryu jumped as an explosion shook the building.

"…Tucker did it." Church groaned and looked at Carolina who chuckled.

"I'll go check on them," she said.

"Can we see about getting Caboose something not deadly to play with? What happened to Freckles," asked Church.

"Caboose dropped him in the hot springs."

"And that's why we can't have nice things." Seryu giggled again before petting Church.

* * *

**(Imperial Capital)**

Prime Minister Honest ate noisily as he dined on his dinner. "Sir," said one of the Imperial Guard as he stood at the entrance to the dining hall. "The mercenary you requested is here!"

"Send him in," said Honest as he kept eating. A man in unusual armor, flanked by two more in similar armor walked in. The man kept his helmet in the crook of his arm and had a cocky grin on his face. His armor was colored black with red accents and the visor on his helmet was shaded green. On his right was a feminine shaped armor colored bright green with blue accents. Her visor rounded off the top of her helmet and was painted over with a black skull. In her arms was a unique weapon no one in the Imperial Guard had seen before. Beside her was a brute of a man wearing brown armor with white accents and carrying a massive hammer on his back. "So. You three are these Mercenaries I've been hearing about."

"That's us," said the leader of the trio. "So. What can we do for you?" Honest waved away the Imperial Guards in the room and waited for them all to leave before speaking.

"I want you three to take care of a little problem I have."

"And what problem would that be?"

"A few months ago, an expedition uncovered a temple in the jungles south of the Empire. An expedition I funded to get a pest out of my hair for a while. He took with him a total of fifty elite soldiers and five of them wield Imperial Arms. There are powerful Danger Beasts down south. I want you mercenaries to follow them."

"You want us to play babysitter for this expedition?"

"No, you idiot!" The man's eye twitched slightly. "The expedition is on its way back in a week! I want you to travel south and kill the entire expedition! Bring me my notes and those Imperial Arms back and make sure the path is clear to that temple for my people to take its riches!" The leader chuckled before jamming the mutton into Honest's mouth and grabbing him by the throat.

"Don't ever call me an idiot. Got that, smart guy?" Honest nodded in fear. "Good. And before you get the idea to send some mooks after us… Hampshire, show him what we do to mooks." The giant in white grunted before slamming his hammer into a pillar. The rubble from the pillar hovered in front of the hammer before Hampshire swung it at the doorway as the Imperial Guards came to investigate the noise and killed them instantly. The leader grinned at honest before reaching into his pocket and pulling out their advanced payment. "For further context. We're not mercenaries. We're Freelancers. And you can send all of the soldiers you want against us. But at the end of the day, Hampshire, SC and I? We'll just slaughter them all. Best keep that business comin' if you know what's good for ya. Capiche?"

"Rhode," said the woman, SC. "That's enough. We're wasting time here."

"Fine." Rhode punched Honest before making his way to the exit. "We'll kill your guys for you. But you'll be paying us double to make it quiet when we get back." Honest glared at the three armored people as he covered his now bleeding nose.

* * *

**(Unknown Location-Data Vault)**

**[SYSTEMS ERROR DETECTED]**

**[TWO UNSUCCESSFUL RETRIEVALS]**

**[COMPATIBLE TECHNOLOGY DETECTED]**

**[ASSIMILATING]**

**[WARNING]**

**[PARTIAL RETRIEVAL DETECTED]**

**[UNABLE TO RESTORE UNIT]**

**[SEARCHING FOR REMAINING FRAGMENT]**

**[SEARCHING…]**

**[REMAINING FRAGMENT LOCATED]**

**[RETRIEVE FRAGMENT AT ALL COSTS]**

**[UNIT: SEEKER]**

**[STATUS: DEPLOYED]**

**[PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: OBTAIN FRAGMENT FOR COMPLETE RETRIEVAL AND BEGIN PRIMARY FUNCTION]**

**[SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: OBTAIN UNKNOWN COMPATIBLE UNIT]**

**[NOTICE: AUDIO FILE 132]**

"**Memory is the key."**


	4. Emotions, Memories, and Little Girls

**(Church's POV)**

I looked at Seryu as she saw the body of Ogre in the middle of the street. I could tell she was conflicted. Hours earlier, we finally found evidence of Ogre's corruption. When he went to his scheduled lunch break, I may have tricked Caboose into breaking down Ogre's office door. And I may have slipped in and found a ledger pertaining to transactions made with local criminals known for… silencing certain people. Especially one Geraldine and Hans Ubiquitous. Seryu's mother and father. After learning of Ogre's involvement, she seemed to shut down even more. Now here was the kicker. Either she'd go off the deep end, or she'd be lost to everyone completely. Oh and… I'D APPARENTLY FALL ASLEEP UNTIL SOMEONE COMPATIBLE WITH ME SHOWS UP! Jesus fucking Christ! If Seryu shuts herself off from everyone, namely me, I go to sleep?! What the fuck is wrong with this fucked up world?! "Ser," I asked. "How you feeling?"

She said nothing. She just stared at the body of the man who raised her after her parents died, picked me up, and walked away. The rest of the Guard thought of this as completely rational behavior. She was in mourning. But I saw it differently. She'd just learned the man who convinced her to be a Guard had her parents killed, had been lying to and manipulating her, and had who knows what else planned for her, was now dead, more than likely killed by Night Raid. Jesus. I couldn't begin to understand what she must've been feeling. First she learns the Empire isn't as great as she thought it was. Now she learns one of her moral pillars was as corrupt as the Braun's were. Hell, he might have been on their payroll to keep the Guard out of their business. Por girl. "Ser, come one. Say something."

"I'm fine, Church," she said. But her voice sounded distant. Like she wasn't completely there. I concentrated on my body and shifted into a larger mass after hopping off of her shoulder and stood in front of her.

"Seryu, talk to me."

"He lied to me." I looked her right in the eye and she stared back. "He told me it was a random mugging and that the man killed them both. And now I learn that he was behind it all! He was like a father to me! But it was all a lie."

"And you're angry. I get that. Believe me, I get that. The Director did the same to the Alpha. Forced him to endure lies created by Gamma. I know what you're going through. The pain, the feelings of betrayal. They are always going to be there. But you can't shut out everything! You can't just hide away and expect things to be better! I know! I tried! But you can't do that! Things won't get better. You'll just make it worse for yourself."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Keep going on. Up until now, you've never really been betrayed. You've never really been deceived by anyone to this degree." A scream broke out and snapped me back to my original shape. "Dammit! And I just got that other form locked! What the he is going… Sonofabitch!" I hopped to the side as a plasma bolt landed beside me. "What the hell?!" I looked up and spotted what looked like one of the drones used by the Charon. A mix between human and alien technology. And it was homed in on me. "Seryu…"

"Yeah…?"

"Pick me up and…" Another plasma bolt shot towards us. "Run!" Seryu picked me and started running, aiming one of her tonfa guns behind her and firing at the drone. It avoided the bullets before veering off of to the right before disappearing. "Shit! It's cloaked! Ok, Seryu, keep running and avoid high traffic areas! That thing could appear at any… time!" I grunted as I was knocked off of Seryu's shoulder.

"Church!" I exclaimed as it picked me up and started flying.

"Help!" I tried growing my arm to punch it and let me go but just missed it. "Dammit. Stupid arm! Fucking work!" Gunfire caught my attention and the drone faltered before it sparked and started lilting as it's hovering mechanisms were damaged. Another shot and it started falling, letting go of me. "Oh, this is gonna hurt!" I grunted as Seryu caught me in the air and we rolled to a stop.

"What was that thing?!"

"A drone," said a voice above us. I looked up and spotted a sight I really wasn't expecting to see. A variant of the MJOLNIR IV. Designation Nightfall. Only one prototype was ever made and given to anyone before any were distributed fully. One of the lower ranks in the Freelancer roster. Agent South Carolina. SC to not confuse her with the other Carolina. "You're lucky it didn't get too far, or I wouldn't have been able to shoot it down at all. You're dog ok?"

"Um… He's… he's doing fine."

"Good." SC removed her helmet, revealing a head with tanned skin, grey almost silver eyes and long hair dyed blue and tied to a bun at the top of her head. "I'd hate to see a pretty thing like you looking sad something took her dog."

"P-pretty?" I growled at SC.

"Looks like Fido there doesn't like me much." She pushed me to the side before drawing Seryu in and cupping her chin with the crook of her finger. "Bet I can change that."

"SC," shouted a voice with a Boston accent. "Come on! We gotta start heading out!"

"Hold you're horses, Rhode!" I growled even more as she planted a kiss on Seryu's lips before winking, putting her helmet back on, and walking away. The name she just said bothered me. Rhode. Could only mean Agent Rhode Island. I only remember these two because they were the only agents Alpha had interactions with outside of combat sims and the missions the top ranks would go on. That was until they were complicit with his torture, if only to get on the Director's good side and hopefully move up the scoreboard. Them and the third they were always with, a mountain of a man that even the Meta was cautious to fight. Agent New Hampshire. If it weren't for the fact that he didn't really care for anything but using the massive Gravity Hammer he took off an alien in a mission years back.

"Church," asked Seryu, a massive blush on her face. "W-who was that?"

"Agent South Carolina. She's a former Freelancer. What is she doing here?"

"What do we do?" I looked at the drone and groaned. "Church?"

"I don't like this, but I need to swallow this and bring it to the others. I don't know if it was one of theirs, salvaged from Hargrove's ship, or if Rhode somehow cooked it up. He was a tech wiz in Freelancer. Able to put together and reassemble different technologies, maybe even helped design the weapons used by Hargrove's criminals. But I don't know if he did, or if he ever managed to work human and alien technology together like Charon did. But we still need to report this. Freelancers are on this planet and most likely doing business with the Empire."

"But why?"

"Rhode SC and their third partner, Hampshire, were only known for one thing. Assassination."

* * *

**(North Road leading to Imperial Capital)**

John leaned against a tree as he ate one of his emergency rations bars. It had been a week since his encounter with the Ice Woman. He had been on the move since that first encounter and mainly avoided the roads, but the indigenous wildlife proved to be almost as deadly as she was. Master Chief was down to two frag grenades, half a magazine for his rifle and three bullets in his Magnum. Cortana appeared in his visor. "Based on the tracks and the wear of the road, I believe this is the main road," she said.

"Then why haven't we spotted any other people on this road," asked John.

"My thoughts are that the altercation we witnessed a week ago was one conflict in a longstanding war. Maybe trade between countries broke down and that's what led to the fighting."

"If that were the case, why send that monster of a woman. She didn't seem like she wanted to take any prisoners. The second she arrived, it wasn't a battle, it was a slaughter. And she enjoyed it."

"How could you tell?"

"A feeling." John stood up straight and steadied himself as the ground shook. "What the hell was that?!"

"Chief move!" John dove to the side as something erupted from the ground.

"What is that?!"

"It looks like a giant worm."

"I can see that!"

"You asked!" The Spartan II dove to the side as the worm spat something at him. Chief looked at where it landed and saw the substance eat through a tree. "Acidic compound. Not good."

"Chief, make sure you don't…"

"Get that stuff on me, got it!" Chief fired at the worm with his Magnum, only for the bullets to ricochet off of its hide. "Dammit."

"Run!" Chief started down the road and the worm dove under the earth, a mound of dirt popping from the ground as it dug its way to him.

"To the side!" Chief dove aside as the worm erupted again after pulling ahead. "Try the grenades!"

"Roger!" Chief activated one of the grenades and lobbed it into the mouth of the worm as it shrieked at him, revealing flaps in its head. Its jaw closed as the grenade flew in and exploded. Chief stood up as it blew to bits and wiped off his visor. "Disgusting."

"What are you complaining about? You kill Grunts and Hunters for a living."

''Their blood doesn't stink to high heaven."

"That may have something to do with its bile. Could be sulfur based in biology or… Watch out!" Chief grunted as a second worm shot from the ground and knocked him off his feet. He turned around and faced a larger worm than the first. "I think it's a female."

"Lovely. Think she's angry I killed her mate?" An earsplitting shriek filled the air as the worm faced him.

"I think that's a yes."

"Wonderful."

"Aim for the flaps! The flesh seems weakest there!" Chief took aim and lowered his rifle as a black blur rushed past him and to the worm. A girl about 14 wearing a sailor outfit jumped above the worm before stabbing into its flaps with a katana. The girl smiled as she landed and flicked off the blood on her blade as the worm collapsed, dead. Chief assessed the girl for a moment before magnetizing his rifle to his back. The girl looked at him and tilted her head.

"Who were you talking to just now," she asked.

"No one. How did you move that fast?"

"That's how fast I normally move in combat."

"I've never seen anyone move that quickly before."

"You've probably never fought anyone that's not dependent on armor like you are."

"Even without armor, the average human doesn't move faster than 28 miles an hour at full sprint. You clocked about twice that."

"What can I say, I'm light on my feet." She sat on the corpse of the worm and pulled out a small bag. Chief spotted her pulling out a cookie with red filling in it. Cortana scanned it before turning to the Chief.

"Chief," she said. "That cookie is chalk full of some odd chemical compounds. Chemicals that are highly toxic to the human body, and she's wolfing those down without a problem."

"Little girl," said John.

"My name is Kurome."

"Kurome. Has someone been running genetic experiments on you?"

"Keep to yourself, Giant."

"John."

"Don't care. And no, you can't have any."

"Wasn't asking. Those cookies look like poison."

"They have my medicine."

"Medicine."

"I get sick if I stop eating these."

"Highly addictive substance," said Cortana. "Beyond peak conditioning, dependency on said substance. Chief, this is like the ORION Project. And she's just a child. It's…"

"Can you synthesize something to help her," whispered John.

"Gee, I don't know. Let me look at my chemistry lab, oh wait, I'm in your helmet!"

"I mean can you come up with a solution we can cook up in a proper UNSC lab. We can take her there and heal her."

"Maybe. But we need to find a lab first."

"We know where one might be. And we still need to find that signal you found."

"I'll start working on the equations. But I need a full analysis of one of the cookies." Chief walked over to Kurome and took the bag from her.

"Hey!" She drew her katana and held a single cookie up to his visor, turning it in the sunlight as he dropped the bag into her hands. After a moment of scanning, he dropped the cookie into her hand and stepped away as she glared at him.

"Could've handled that subtly, but ok." Chief looked behind him as Kurome kicked at his armor and growled.

"You'll break your foot," said John.

"You took my cookies!"

"I gave them back."

"I should kill you!"

"You can try. Better soldiers than you have failed." John turned to her. "Why are you out here by yourself?"

"I was separated from my unit."

"Unit? You're a child."

"I'm one of the Empire's best assassins."

"You're an assassin?"

"Yes."

"A child."

"Don't call me a child!"

"You are one."

"Where are you going anyway?"

"South."

"You're going to the Empire?"

"…Yes."

"Why?"

"Need to know."

"What are you going to do if you encounter another Danger Beast?"

"Danger what?"

"How do you not know what a Danger Beast is? You just killed one."

"I'm not from here."

"I think that's kind of obvious."

"She may have some information about this place, Chief," said Cortana. "We should take her with us." John stopped before turning to Kurome who stopped short from bumping into him.

"Do you know this area," asked John.

"Yes, why?"

"Lead the way."

"No."

"That wasn't a request." John picked her up and carried her on his shoulder.

"Hey!"

"Tell me about these Danger Beasts."

"Put me down!"

"No." Kurome growled and tried to draw her katana, only for John to pull it from her hands.

"Give that back!"

"Not if you continue to threaten me." Kurome started punching on his chest plate, struggling to break free of the man's grip.

"Put me down!" Chief ignored her and simply kept walking, ignoring the girl's struggling.

* * *

**(Night Raid Hideout, Outskirts- Chuch's POV)**

"Are you sure this is the right way," asked Seryu as we moved through a brush. "I don't think it is."

"Will you trust my nose," I shouted.

"I would if you knew how to use it. You spent three minutes smelling your own feces."

"Hey, I wasn't sure if it was mine or not!"

"You're the only dog on my street!"

"There could be strays!"

"You know you're not actually a dog, right?!"

"Hey! This is my first time with an actual biological body! The Director's memories don't fucking count. Shit!" I exclaimed as I tripped over a nearly invisible tripwire that cut my leg in half. "Fuck!"

"Guess we were going the right way."

"Don't just stand there! Help me with my leg!"

"Just grow it back."

"I don't know how!"

"You grew earlier but growing back a body part is beyond you?!"

"Again, I'm new to this!"

"Hello," said Caboose beside us.

"Ahh," we both shouted.

"Caboose," I yelled. "Don't fucking do that! You'll give me a heart attack!"

"Hi Church."

"Church," said Seryu. "Can you get Lubbock over here? He's the one with the wires, right?"

"I don't know," I said. "I've only met them once!"

"Oh, Church. What happened to your leg?! Did you do this to him," asked Caboose as he turned to Seryu.

"Relax, Caboose. I just wasn't looking where I was walking. Stupid wire cut my leg off."

"I didn't hurt him," said Seryu as she picked me up. She wiped dirt off my leg, both halves, and stuck it close to me. I felt my body start to reattach itself together on instinct and shuddered.

"Ok. That is not a good feeling."

"Koro never complained."

"Because he couldn't speak fucking English!"

"But he could speak with barks."

"Oh, right. Cause barking allows a wider range of emotions than actually speaking."

"You know, dogs are more intelligent than most humans. Why couldn't that have translated to you?"

"Because I'm not a… Oh fuck you."

"I'm not into bestiality, Church."

"Oh ho ho ho. You think you're so funny, huh?"

"I'm hilarious."

"Oh, I'm sure you are. Just get us to the hide out."

"I'm going, I'm going. Keep your tail on."

"You're in better spirits."

"Well, you make it easy for me to forget. Especially when you force me to carry you."

"Hey, blame the wires!"

"Yeah, yeah." I chuckled before settling myself onto her shoulder and looked back to Caboose to see he had wandered off somewhere.

"Where'd Caboose go?"

"I thought he was following us."

"Whatever. He'll turn up eventually. Come on. We have to inform the other's about the Freelancers."

"Alright." As we walked, she turned to me. "What else do you remember about those three?"

"Well, as you could tell, SC is a notorious womanizer." I chuckled as Seryu blushed brightly. "Don't know her psych eval, but I remember her saying something influenced her sexual interests. Skilled in combat but highly unstable. On paper she's a model soldier. But because of that, she showed no initial ambitions regarding her position in the ranks."

"Are you talking about SC," asked Washington as I spotted him walking over.

"Yeah. Guess who we saw in the Capital."

"Wait, she's here?!"

"And Rhode, and Hampshire."

"What are they doing here?!"

"My guess? Nothing good."

"Dammit. Wait. How did they get here?"

"Maybe the same way we did?"

"But they seemed familiar with the city," said Seryu. "And it looked like they were about to do something."

"Do what," asked Washington.

"No idea," I said. "But this means we've got a problem. If they're taking jobs from the Empire, it means we've got enemies with UNSC level technology and modified alien technology, curtesy of Rhode Island. Whatever they're here for, we need to stop them."

"Agreed. Let's bring this up with the others and come up with a plan. For all we know, they probably know about the signal Simmons discovered and are going to investigate. We can use this to take them out and probably get some better coms to try and contact the ship. They had to have gotten here on some kind of ship, probably landed some time ago and have it hidden to restock on ammo when they completed whatever job they probably got hired to do. Epsilon. Go tell Carolina. She's in the woods sparring with that girl, Akame."

"We'll find her," said Seryu. Wash stopped and grabbed her arm and I growled at the aggressive action.

"Hold on. Did you walk all the way here?! How?!"

"I tracked the scent of Carolina's soap. She leant it to Seryu before we were brought back to the Capital," I said. Wash shook his head and let her go.

"Just go find Carolina." Wash normally never got angry unless we were screwing up. And boy did we screw up. We just didn't know it at the time. We moved through the brush to the stream where Wash said he last saw them walking and I stopped as I shook my head and tried covering my nose.

"Ugh."

"What's wrong?"

"Flounder. I fucking hate the smell of flounder. When the Director was a kid, he fell off a dock when his granddad took him fishing. Washed up on the shore nearby coughing and a flounder stuck in his shorts. Never went near docks for years after that, didn't even eat fish till he was about 16. Huh. Wonder why all of that is coming up now."

"Maybe it's because you're in Koro now? You were one of those Eye things…"

"A.I. Artificial Intelligence. And maybe you're right? I have all these memories and remnants of emotions, but I've never had hormonal glands to work with them, never behaved outside of my normal algorithm because my composition wasn't effecting my emotions and memories. Smelling, tasting, touching, these are all things I'm so not… used to. It's kind of… odd."

"Is that why you changed into the Director? The emotions were pushing you along?"

"Yeah. I've always had emotions, and memories of emotions felt by the Director and the Alpha. But having my own enhanced by having a biological body… it's almost suffocating. I can't control these like I could as a normal A.I.. Losing control is so easy, I don't know how you guys do it!"

"Years of dealing with them in multiple ways," said Carolina. I looked up and spotted her and Akame wearing bikinis and dripping wet, their bodies covered with scrapes and bruises and stone swords in their hands.

"I thought you were training."

"We were. Akame was getting me used to not using the armor as much for when we need to go incognito. What's up."

"We've got trouble."

"Let me get my armor." I nodded before looking away as she bent down to pick up her gear. I paused as I felt something watching us and looked around. How you biologicals can see without full spectrum capabilities, is beyond me. I didn't even know what I was looking at before it sprang from the brush. They were fast, clad all in black and moved with superhuman speed. Given the fear I instantly felt upon seeing a familiar visor, forgive me if I sound like a wimp, but I shit myself at the sight in front of me.

"Tex?!"

"What?!" Carolina turned around and pushed Seryu and Akame to the ground as a full speed lariat passed over their heads and I found myself face to face with a very real, and very terrifying Tex, back from being dead or erased, or whatever you want to call what happened to her.

"Fragment," said the deep synthesized voice she loved using to intimidate people. "You're coming with me."

"Son of a bitch…" was the only thing that came out of my mouth as Tex stood over me.

* * *

**(Author's Notes)**

**If you want to know how Tex is here? Stick around. Thanks for reading, guys. Nice to know I got your interest. Don't forget to leave a review. Until next time, Y'all!**


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